Prison Bus

There’s this bus I see from time to time that transports prisoners from place to place. It always seems to be around, and it’s the one you don’t want to put your kids on in the morning. It comes into town in the morning at rush hour and gets caught in the same traffic jam that I get caught in. A couple of times it’s been right next to me when I’m stuck in traffic. As I sat helplessly idle in my car I could feel the prisoners’ eyes staring down at me from my left. I dared not look back.  I sensed them reaching for the cord to ring the bell to let them out at the next stop. I had seen that movie The Fugitive where the prisoners escape from the bus. My immediate thoughts as I sat there were: “I wonder if they know me for some reason?  Who have I swindled? I wonder if they’ve seen The Fugitive?” There was no way out of the traffic congestion. I was boxed in. We were still two or three lights away from getting through the intersection and the worst part was that there was an old set of railroad tracks to cross before we got to the intersection. I of course wondered if the prison bus had to open its door and look for trains to the right at the crossing like the school buses did. I thought, with prisoner rights and all, that door was going to swing open and that a prisoner would come running out.  Well, we made it through the light, the door never opened, and I made it to work safely.

Recently I got to meet the local warden at a social event. He said that I looked familiar and we all had a good laugh. I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions and I learned a few things. He said that they don’t watch The Fugitive in prison.